Our View: Immigrant community speaks up

What really caught our eye in Tuesday's report on recovery of three New Bedford brownfield sites ("Soccer field, business incubator eyed") was the recognition of "immigrant talent and immigrant energy" in neighborhoods in the North End.

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southcoasttoday.com

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Posted Sep. 11, 2013 at 12:01 AM

Posted Sep. 11, 2013 at 12:01 AM

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What really caught our eye in Tuesday's report on recovery of three New Bedford brownfield sites ("Soccer field, business incubator eyed") was the recognition of "immigrant talent and immigrant energy" in neighborhoods in the North End.

Kathleen McCabe, whose Boston-based consultancy was contracted by the city to engage the community, solicit suggestions and boil it down to a report for the city, said in a Tuesday telephone interview that she was encouraged at the level of immigrant participation in these first steps in a process to restore industrial property to community use.

In the Monday meeting held to convey the various options gleaned from community suggestions, she said there were as many Spanish-speaking residents as English-speaking, and they stayed longer than the others.

The grass-roots suggestions of small businesses and an incubator centered around food "bubbled up" from the summer's work to engage the community, and it has the ring of legitimacy.

McCabe deserves credit for successfully attracting the vital, vibrant immigrant community and involving it in the decisions on the future of its neighborhood, but we too are encouraged by what appears to be that community's growing sense of empowerment.

Similarly, McCabe notes that there was a common willingness among participants to hear all speakers, all who cared enough about their neighborhoods to come out to share and listen, whether they expressed their ideas in Portuguese, Spanish or English.

There remains a long way to go in the process. McCabe will write a report to the city, and there will be federal and state considerations while permitting and funding are considered. But we hope the city sees the opportunity as clearly as it appears to us and further empowers the immigrant communities on its way to cleaning brownfields and promoting diversity.

Just a small step, we know, as McCabe herself says. But, she adds, "Change happens by getting people together."